I was making the point that I had expected the Minister to have produced a White Paper that we could study on the need for the Criminal Justice Bill, including various statistical information. I also made the point that the Law Reform Commission should have been asked to make some detailed proposals and to take proposals from interested bodies such as community councils, trade unions, residents' associations, the legal profession and so on. I asked what is the purpose of the Joint Committee on Crime, Lawlessness and Vandalism which was recently set up and which, I understand, has had two meetings. They are fully intent on studying the whole problem of crime, lawlessness and vandalism on behalf of the Dáil and I presume they will report their findings. I wondered why the Minister anticipated whatever that committee might come up with.
The biggest problem of crime, especially in urban areas, is detection. Statistical evidence suggests that a very high percentage of defendants who are charged with criminal offences plead guilty. This is particularly true of juvenile offenders, whose anti-social behaviour I have been talking about in relation to vandalism rather than in the violent or armed crime area. Conviction rates are quite high among these offenders which suggests that, in their case, the existing right to silence is not an obstruction to conviction in the criminal courts.
Detection rates for serious crimes and offences against the person also seem to be high but there is a low detection rate in offences against property. That, of course, brings the general detection rate down. There is no evidence to suggest that this new Bill, if passed, will substantially increase detection rates and that is the major problem in crime. The Ó Briain Committee commented in their report on the over-reliance on confessions to solve crimes and that such over-reliance could discourage the gathering of evidence by normal police investigation methods.
Reactive policing is becoming more and more common. That is not the fault of the Garda but it is becoming the dominant method of policing in urban society. This may largely be due to the phasing out of the men on the beat and bringing in more motorised units. However, I understand that is now being corrected and that more gardaí are being brought out on patrol. It is in this area that the network of community policing and relations in the Garda can be built up. We strongly support the idea of community policing that came from the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors last year and it is essential that the Garda are encouraged to develop a relationship with the urban communities, especially in working class areas where there is high youth unemployment, a high level of vandalism and increasing petty crime. Perhaps it is not so petty in the long run but it is petty in the sense that car stealing by juvenile offenders is not seen by them as a major crime, even though they are stealing cars, racing them, creating great danger to the local community and, in some cases, actual bodily harm and injury and, in a few cases, death.
It is vital that the Garda are involved in the local community. The junior liaison officer scheme was one which could have been of tremendous help and importance in that area whereas, in fact, in the past few years this seems to have been run down or even ignored.